Submitted by jimspoon on 2019/09/12 10:02
I'm wanting to go through a grid, select mulltiple non-contiguous items, and assign a tag(s) to them.
 
Ctrl+click works well to select non-contiguous items, though if you click anywhere with Ctrl not pressed, you lose your selection.  And you know me, I'm always looking for keyboard-only ways to do things.
 
In Windows Explorer, moving the focus to another item using the arrow keys does not deselect previously selected items, so long as Ctrl is pressed.  This is also true of the IQ Live-Search tab, but not of a regular grid.  In a regular grid, Ctrl+down deselects the previous selection.
 
I've looked at using Marked Items as a substitute for the kind of selection I'm looking for - especially since it is REALLY a sticky selection, and the selection can't be lost by a mere click or arrow key with Ctrl not pressed.  But it's nowhere near as easy to do as Ctrl+Arrow Keys, Space.
 
I've even looked at how to remap Ctrl+arrow key to a Ctrl+click in AutoHotkey, haven't figured that out yet, not even sure if that will accomplish what I'm looking for.
 

Comments

Hi Jim,
 
This is because Ctrl + down/up arrow is reserved to go to the next/previous sibling...
 
Any suggestion ? Perhaps do this action if only 1 item is selected ?
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 

jimspoon

2019/09/12 13:28

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Ctrl+Up/Down for Go To Prev/Sibling makes sense, and fits with Ctrl+Left/Right for Go To Parent/Child.
 
Ideally there would be a behavior that would correspond to the Windows Explorer behavior, Up/Down followed by Space bar to add it to the existing item selection.  (Although in Explorer you have to hold down Ctrl while doing this.)
 
One idea that popped into my head is to have a Item Selection mode, sort of like we have a Ctrl+F3 Auto-Search mode.  We'd enter Item Selection mode using a keyboard shortcut, and once in the mode, we'd just use Up/Down to focus and Space to add to the selection.  Then we could perform operations on the selected items (tagging etc).  The operation itself could return IQ from Item Selection to normal mode.  Or IQ could remain in Item Selection mode until the Item Selection keyboard shortcut is pressed again ... that's how Auto Search mode works I think?
 
In Item Selection mode, the "Goto" keystrokes (Ctrl+arrow keys, etc) could work as they normally do.
 
 

In v114b:
  • New: Grid: Ctrl + up/down arrows: If one item is selected, move to the next / previous sibling. If more than 1 item is selected, simply move the focus. Press the space bar to toggle the focus item selected state
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 

jimspoon

2019/09/12 21:00

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 thanks Pierre, I'm looking forward to trying this out.  It sounds after the first item is selected, the second item will need to be selected with Ctrl+click.  But after that, Ctrl+Up/Down, Space will work.  I will be very happy to have this! 

jimspoon

2020/08/10 12:56

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[quote=Pierre_Admin]
In v114b:
  • New: Grid: Ctrl + up/down arrows: If one item is selected, move to the next / previous sibling. If more than 1 item is selected, simply move the focus. Press the space bar to toggle the focus item selected state
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer
 
[/quote]
 
 Pierre, is this change still working?  It's not working for me in 116pre2.  (need to update to 116pre3).

Pierre_Admin

2020/08/10 14:56

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Hi Jim,
 
Indeed, it broke when I added Ctrl+Space to toggle expand state. Fixed in v116Pre4
 
Pierre_Admin
IQ Designer